Post WWII Christmas Celebrations
From the 50's to Today

In many ways, Post WWII Christmas has become the most commercialized, secularized holiday on the calendar. While many continue to remember the "Reason for the Season" is the birth of Jesus Christ, many have forgotten.

During the 1950's, Christmas celebrations were back with a flourish. However, people wanted something a little more surreal after the long hard years of the war.

Fairies, elves, unicorns and other fanciful creatures graced the post WWII Christmas tree and have made their own way into Christmas history. Even the trees had changed. Advances in manufacturing produced more realistic trees to be sure, but this decade saw the introduction of something entirely new... This was the decade of the silver Christmas tree!

By the middle of the decade things were starting a little more back to normal. More and more retailers were starting to sell Christmas goods earlier and earlier in the year.

1956 was a big year for new commercial Christmas displays, especially with the rise of the American institution of the shopping mall.

Santa was everywhere, from department stores to huge and intricately decorated annexes created especially for him at the center of the indoor malls.

During the turbulent 1960's, Post WWII Christmas history made another statement as many small stores started to mimic Fields, Macy's and Wannamaker's. All the latest in Christmas merchandise was showcased in every window, and the facades of stores were decorated as well.

A big part of my own personal Christmas history includes the Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Wards, J. C. Penney 500+ page "Wish Books" to their mailings in December (I remember my Dad, who was a mail carrier at the time, complaining about the Thanksgiving mail, more than the Christmas mail back then!)

These books had color pictures on every single page, and were filled to the brim with everything one could imagine for gift-giving during the holidays.

The largest section, of course, was the toy section. Many stores that never sold a toy all the rest of the year had a special toy section at Christmas time - even the local hardware store got into the act!

Another personal bright spot in Post WWII Christmas history during the 1960's - the popular Rankin Bass Christmas movies came out!! There was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in 1964, featuring the voices of Burl Ives as the narrator (Sam, the snowman).

In 1968, Greer Garson narrated for "The Little Drummer Boy". Jimmy Durante sung in and narrated for "Frosty the Snowman", who's voice was done by Jackie Vernon.

In 1970, my personal favorite of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials was created. "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" was narrated by S. D. (Special Delivery) Kruger - aka Fred Astaire.

Kris Kringle's voice was Mickey Rooney (another one of my favorites). Paul Frees was the voice of Burghermeister MeisterBurgher, and Robie Lester did the voice over for Miss Jessica (later, Mrs. Claus). There were even more titles that showed up during the late '70's and well into the '80's.

By the 1970's, with the advent of the out-door Christmas displays for home-owners, the post WWII Christmas was a run-away best seller.

Each year for the rest of the century and beyond became more secular, more commercial, and more expensive. Christmas history has been making the secular leaps since the beginning. You could even buy kits to decorate not only the outside of the house, but the entire yard, walkway, driveway and even the trees!

By the 1980's, the Christmas season started the day after Halloween. "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving, was already well-known as being the biggest selling day in retail throughout the country.

It was also already a household fact that retailers could figure on literally making half of their yearly sales during the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas - if you didn't do well, there wouldn't be profit for your store in that year. Post WWII Christmas history, and the term "Black Friday" are now nearly synonymous...

Radio stations strictly dedicated to Christmas music hit some of the major market areas, and most stations played nothing but Christmas songs - both old and new - on Christmas day, and sometimes Christmas eve as well. Some start as early as the day after Thanksgiving, and run all the way through New Years!

There were several dozen lines of 'collector' ornaments, as well as a few dozen different lines of miniature ceramic Christmas village sets.

Whole companies were created to manufacture just one line! Of course, throughout the 90's, even these small companies expanded and added even more new lines to their Christmas merchandise.

It was during the 1980's that Marshall Fields windows lost their religious overtones, and became nearly strictly secular in nature. Cinderella, a toy shop, a candy shop and Snow White each had their year as Field's Christmas theme.

No Field's window was ever so controversial as when, during the 1990's, they chose Harry Potter as their theme. Harry was everywhere that year, but Field's got the most publicity...

Some people even claimed that they had become Satanic! The annual window-shoppers and the children didn't care, though - Harry was a major hit and there were record numbers of visitors that year.

Icicle lights came on to the scene in the 90's, and so did inflatable outdoor decorations - some of which were nearly as big as Macy's famed balloons! Animated outdoor deer, santas, snowmen and angels also became popular.

Fiber optics were all the rage, and one could find everything from angels with animated fiber-optic wings to entire fiber-optic Christmas trees.

The outcry was still getting louder against the commercialism of post WWII Christmas history, but more and more money was spent each year.

There were news specials about dealing with holiday depression, talk shows invited experts on getting out of debt. And, retail began to start building their Christmas displays in early October.